It doesn’t take long when wandering the streets of the sprawling, congested, and smog-ridden city of Bangkok, once known as the Venice of the East due to its many canals, long since paved over, to realize that metal lives here. Young and old sport metal t-shirts with surprising regularity, metal paraphernalia abounds in shops here and there, and even airport employees asked this recent visitor to the country, upon seeing his tattoos and metal garb, “What metal band are you in?” Though scene insiders in Bangkok remarked to this correspondent that the Bangkok scene is largely split among subgenre lines, it clearly does little to diminish the following among the brutal bands of the Bangkok scene. Here are four punishing bands hailing from Thailand’s capital waiting to unleash upon you and aural assault of massive proportions. More...

Approximately 200 of Thailand’s most brutal turned up for Bang-Cock Death Fest 2011 at the cavernous yet acoustically pleasing Barbie’s Bar in Bangkok, on Saturday December 3rd. The 12-band bill was comprised of a who’s-who of the underground Asian death metal scene, featuring bands from Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Taiwan, which played alongside an incredibly strong array of acts from the host country. More...